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Northern Institute

Demography and growth planning

People of NI
Researcher Fiona Shalley next to Nightcliff sandstone cliffs

Associate Professors

Associate Professor Andrew Taylor

PhD, M.Bus, Grad Cert (Management), B.A.

Andrew Taylor

: +61 8 8946 6692

:  Casuarina campus, CDU

CDU research portal

ResearchGate

  • Impacts from population changes in northern and sparsely settled areas
  • Population projections
  • Indigenous populations and the changing demography
  • Policy implications for population change in communities

Andrew researches the causes and consequences of population change for the Northern Territory of Australia and northern regions more broadly. He undertakes both quantitative and qualitative research to understand impacts from policy, economic and structural changes for communities. In his PhD, he investigated policy and theoretical implications of changing migration practices for Indigenous Territorians. Prior to academia, Andrew worked for a decade with the Australian Bureau of Statistics. He currently teaches the masters level subject Topics in Human Geography.

Doctors

Dr Sigurd Dyrting

Ph.D (Physics), B. Sc.(Hons)

Dr Sigurd Dyrting

: +61 8 8946 6738 

:  Casuarina campus, CDU

CDU research portal

ResearchGate

  • Estimation techniques for small populations
  • Creating software to help practitioners prepare key demographic inputs.

Sigurd specialises in the application of mathematical, statistical, and computational methods to demographic problems. His current research is on estimation techniques for small populations with an emphasis on preparing inputs used by practitioners for demographic analysis and population projections.

Dr David Karacsonyi

Ph.D. (Human Geography), M.Sc. (Geography, Regional and Urban Development)

Dr David Karacsonyi

: 08 8946 7457

:  Casuarina campus, CDU

Research portal

ResearchGate

  • Quantitative geography, GIS, mapping
  • Geography of remote peripheries and regional/rural areas
  • Demography, migration, disasters
  • Regional geography

David completed his PhD studies at Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary) in 2009. Since then he has been working at the Geographical Institute of Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

His current (second) PhD research at the Northern Institute is focusing on the application of contemporary geographic approaches and techniques to understand population change in sparsely populated areas.

David is interested in the geography of peripheral and rural areas and he conducted research in Ukraine and in Belarus. He has spent two and half years in total in East Asia (Taiwan, Japan, and China) as well, where he studied the impacts of disasters like Fukushima on rural populations.

Researchers and research assistants

Jodi Cowdery (PhD in progress)

Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), Bachelor of Laws, Master of Justice

Jodi Cowdery

:  (08)89 466 367

:  Casuarina campus, CDU

Jodi is a proud long-term Territorian, originally from southeast Queensland, is a descendant of the Murri people from the Cunnamulla and Goodooga regions, as well as having English, Irish and Scottish ancestry. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), a Bachelor of Laws, and a Master of Justice. Jodi has over 15 years' experience working for both Australian and Territory Governments including senior roles in law and policy, compliance and enforcement, and economic regulation of utilities and major infrastructure.   

Elizabeth Creed

B.A. Humanities and Social Sciences (Monash), Grad Cert Australian Indigenous Knowledges (CDU)

Elizabeth Creed

:  08 8946 6233

:  Casuarina campus, CDU

 

  • Ensuring research provides robust evidence for policy development, and evaluation enables continuous improvement of policies, programs and services.
  • Survey development and questionnaire design with the aim of reducing non-sampling error
  • Interaction between social memory, social networks and population turnover in the NT
  • Social justice and institutional racism
  • Impact of the built environment on social interaction 

Elizabeth is an experienced social policy researcher, on secondment from the NTG Territory Families, Housing and Communities to the Northern Institute for three years. She will be working on the development and actualisation of the NT Social Outcomes Framework and a social capital index for the NT.

Between 2005 and 2008, Elizabeth was with the School for Social Policy Research, the predecessor of the Northern Institute, as part of the team conducting research into the causes and consequences of population turnover in the NT. This research provided the evidence base for the 2018-28 NT Population Growth Strategy.

Fiona Shalley (PhD in progress)

BSc (Hons), Grad Cert Statistics.

Fiona Shalley

: 08 8946 7782 

:  Casuarina campus, CDU

CDU research portal

ResearchGate

  • Enhancing quantitative data sources with qualitative research to enrich data story telling.
  • Supporting ethical data linkage and data integration to make the most of existing data sources.
  • Helping people to better understand the inherent uncertainty associated with population forecasts so they can make informed decisions for policy, planning, and infrastructure and business investments.
  • Visualising data to aid understanding and to make statistics more accessible.

With a previous career spanning more than 20 years with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Fiona Shalley is an experienced data practitioner. This experience has included 2011 Census data collection management in Northern Australia, national household survey design, complex data processing activities, and statistical analysis and publication. Fiona has had particular interest in data about and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, being the immediate past Director of the National Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statistics. She is passionate about helping people to access and use the extensive ABS data holdings and has run workshops aimed at encouraging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers to gain quantitative data skills.

Fiona has worked with the CDU Office of the Pro Vice Chancellor – Indigenous Leadership, on Indigenous student access to higher education, and has co-authored a report providing a statistical overview of Aboriginal adult English literacy and numeracy skills in the Northern Territory.

Fiona is currently leading the myterritoryconnections.cdu.edu.au research project.